IN FEATHERS AND FUR. 183 
Then I went to sleep, at least I don't remember anything till 
I found myself very uneasy and wild to get out. I burst open my 
snug house and came out. And behold, I had changed into a 
beautiful Fly ! I stood on a leaf and looked around me, unfolding 
my wings, and gradually getting used to being a Fly, for you know 
it was a great change from being a worm. 
I found that my new body was a delicate green — just the color 
of leaves in June, I've heard my admirers say. Then I had four 
exquisite wings, much longer than my body, changeable green and 
pink, and so gauzy and thin that I am sometimes called Lacewing 
Fly. 
But my eyes are my greatest beauty, and when I am put into 
one of those droll things that men call microscopes, you can see 
them very well, though to your eye alone, they look like specks of 
gold, as I said before. Through the microscope you can see that 
they are round and full, like half a marble, and they look as if 
covered with emeralds and rubies, the colors sparkling and chang- 
ing all the time. 
There's another thing I want to tell you, and that is how my 
family provide for their children. You know we small mothers 
never have the pleasure of seeing our own babies. In fact, we 
generally die before they live. But we are as fond of them as 
other mothers of theirs, and we are careful to arrange nice, com- 
fortable cradles for the little ones. 
None take more pains than we Golden Eyes. We never stick 
our eggs into some crack, or leave them on the ground, or throw 
them into the water — by no means! Each tiny atom of an egg 
has its own white column to stand on, and so is lifted above any 
dusty leaf or stem. 
This is how we fix them. First we hunt up a quiet place for 
our nursery, where the eggs will not be likely to be disturbed. 
Then the mother drops a tiny bit of a sort of white gum, which 
she has packed away in her body, and at once draws it out into a 
little white stem half an inch long. On the top of this she lays a 
snow white egg, sticks it with another dab of the gum, and there 
it is, safe and sound, till the baby breaks out. 
We always put a good many of these dainty cradles near 
together, and men, who think they're so very wise, have often 
taken home the whole family, examined them, and called them — 
what do you think ? The seed cups of mosses ! I must admit 
